


Fault Lines

by AlexiHollis



Series: Moving [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcoholism, Allusions to abuse, Gen, Minor Character Death, Past Kidnapping, death not of characters listed, parental neglect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13933746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiHollis/pseuds/AlexiHollis
Summary: Jasper talks with Garnet about the last phone call she got from her mother before the IncidentOrJasper feels really guilty and Garnet is the best "friend" anyone could ever ask for (there's little hints of leading to more than friends).





	Fault Lines

“Jasper, do you want something to drink?” Pearl called from the kitchen.

It was a Sunday night which meant “family” dinner: family meaning Rose, Pearl, Garnet, Bismuth and Bleu and Yolanda Zircon. That week Greg had also been invited (to Pearl’s chagrin). Rose always hosted while Pearl cooked, allowing help from a chosen few such as Garnet and Bleu. She banned Jasper after an unfortunate incident with a microwave, not even allowing the college student into the kitchen to get a drink.

“Water please,” Jasper called back, “Thanks, Pearl!”

“You sure you don’t want something a bit stronger?” Greg asked, not unkindly, as Pearl brought a bottle of water into the living room, a football game on the TV.

“Jasper doesn’t drink, Greg,” Pearl said, her nose in the air as she handed Jasper the bottle before turning heel to return to the kitchen. Rose sighed quietly, following after her while Greg sat on the couch, clearly uncomfortable as silence settled over the group.

“My mother’s an alcoholic,” Jasper explained, opening the bottle and taking a swig. “I try to stay away from the stuff.”

“Oh,” the information only appeared to make the man’s embarrassment worse, “I-I’m-”

“Its fine,” Jasper waved her hand, desperate to get past the moment.

“How is your mom?” Bismuth asked. “The kids still doing ok?”

Jasper rolled her eyes, “Fuck if I know. Haven’t talked to her since she scammed me into paying a three hundred dollar bar tab.”

“Three hundred dollars?” Yolanda’s attention was finally ripped from the case file sitting in her lap. She had a hard time with work/home balance. “How the hell did she pull that off?”

“Told me Curly needed dental work and she’s been unemployed since the dawn of time.”

“Some people were just not meant to have kids,” Bismuth muttered, sipping her own beer.

Greg’s eyes went wide, “I-I mean-”

“Nah, man, her parents are worse, she gets to say that shit,” Jasper said before he could dig himself into a hole.

At Greg’s confusion, Bismuth opened her mouth to explain, but Jasper’s ringing phone cut her off.

“Speak of the devil,” Jasper sighed, staring at the screen.

She could ignore it. She really, really could. She was twenty-one years old, a senior in college, she didn’t _have_ to answer her mother’s calls. But last time…

“Give me a second,” Jasper went into the hallway to answer the call.

As she went into the hallway, Garnet was walking into the living room, catching the Caller ID.

“Are you sure?” Garnet asked.

She was giving her an out. She was reminding her of all the awful things that happened when she answered these calls. She was telling Jasper she’d be there when this inevitably blew up leaving Jasper in the rubble again.

“It might be important…”

Garnet nodded, continuing into the living room. Jasper pressed the green button.

“Hello?”

“Jasper? Jasper, sweetie, its Mom.”

Oh, Christ.

“I know.”

“H-how have you been, dear? You haven’t-you haven’t called.”

“Nope.”

“So you’re doing well? How’s school?”

She couldn’t do this. This woman wasn’t even capable of staying sober long enough to go to her eldest daughter’s high school graduation.

“What do you want, mother?”

“Well, you know, Jasper, you’re sisters…as much as I love them, it does cost me an arm and a leg to keep them…”

Keep them, as if her sisters were animals in a freaking zoo. Wait a second, cost…

“No.”

“Jasper, I haven’t even asked anything yet!”

“I am not giving you any more money.”

“Sweetie-”

“No, mother, I cannot give you money that you’re just going to go drink away.”

“I know I’ve made some bad decisions, but-”

“Do you remember the last time I gave you money?! I got a call the next day from a bar saying you were passed out in their bathroom. You’re fucking lucky they went through your contacts, what if they called the cops?”

“Hey! Don’t you use that language with me young lady!”

Breathe. In and out. In and out.

“Do you want them to be taken away from you?”

“I can’t pay the mortgage, Jasper.”

“What mortgage?”

“The city made me buy a house. They said the apartment we were living in was too small for six kids.”

I told you that _years_ ago.

“Doesn’t the city subsidize houses for unemployed parents?”

“I am not living in the fucking projects. I’m no druggie or whore, I deserve a nice house.”

Mother…

“I can’t give you the money, I’m sorry.”

“Jasper-”

“I can’t. I can’t do this. I can’t go down this rabbit hole again. I have tried so hard to help you. I keep telling you: you’re sick. You need to get real help, but you won’t and I can’t do this anymore. I need to focus on school and getting myself in a better place. So just…stop calling me.” Jasper hung up and rested her head against the wall.

After a few minutes of breathing, her clenched fists relaxed and she went back to the living room with her friends.

* * *

 

“I got the call from the police the next week that I needed to go pick up Amethyst,” Jasper muttered, twirling her spoon in her tea. “And now…they, they found Carnelian. Dead, on the side of the road in the middle of the fucking desert.” A few angry tears fell from squinted eyes. “They say she went through hell before it though. God, if I had just given her the money…”

“Jasper,” Garnet scooched her chair closer to the younger woman’s. “Jasper, look at me.” She looked up and Garnet wiped away a few stray tears. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“But-”

“No.”

Jasper looked down into her tea, leaning into the arm Garnet placed around her. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” Garnet smiled slightly. “Does Amethyst know yet?”

Jasper shook her head, “We haven’t discussed anything about this since she came to live with me…She was only seven.”

“Jasper…”

“I know, I know. It’s hard, though. I’m worried…I’m worried we’re gonna start talking about sh-stuff and…I’m worried she’s gone through stuff and it’s my fault, because I left her there. I left all of them with that woman.”

Garnet hummed and they sat in silence for a few minutes, the sound of quiet play coming from the girls upstairs. “I understand.”

Jasper blinked in surprise, “What?”

“I understand your fear,” Garnet said. “There are…things Peridot will say or do that I ask about and regret. I spend time wishing Sheena realized what was happening sooner or that Peridot had been born to loving parents, but that didn’t happen, so we spend time working through the trauma. Ignoring the problem will only make it worse.” There was a beat before Garnet continued, “I don’t think this only applies to Amethyst, though.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The lie earned Jasper the patented Garnet ‘look.’

“I spent nearly seven years in the system,” Garnet reminded Jasper. With a slow hand, she grabbed Jasper’s arm, pulling the sleeve up to her elbow. There was a particularly gruesome scar that wrapped around her fore arm and it wasn’t the only of its kind. Jasper turned away as an uncomfortable heat filled her cheeks, realizing what Garnet knew. “I know the differences in scars.”

Jasper pulled her arm back and readjusted her sleeve. She ruffled her hair nervously, “How long have you known?”

Garnet shrugged, “Long as I’ve known you, figured you’d talk when you wanted to. You came to me about this, it felt like the time.”

Jasper nodded.

Out of nowhere, a ball of energy came flying into the room.

“Jaaaaaaasper!”

“Oof,” Jasper caught her flying sister. “What are you doing, little monster?”

Amethyst’s head tilted. “Can I have some water?”

Jasper’s eyebrow lifted. Amethyst never asked for anything like that at Garnet’s house, usually just climbing on top of the counter to get a glass herself despite being told many times to grab the step stool bought specifically for her. Before she could question it, Garnet was already up and pouring a glass.

As she handed it, Garnet said, unnecessarily loud, “Remind Peridot she can get water whenever she needs.”

“That’s what I said!” Amethyst exclaimed, taking the glass. “But it took _forever_ to get her to admit she was thirsty.”

“Please be careful,” Jasper called as Amethyst went to bolt back upstairs.

“I will!”

Garnet and Jasper sat in silence for a bit longer, drinking their teas slowly.

“I’ll talk to her,” Jasper said. “Not right now…but I will. I think I need to work on somethings myself first.”

Garnet smiled softly, “I’m here for you.”

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all liked this!!! Please leave a comment and a kudos!


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